Larry Hanke had another opportunity this past month to talk about the role of metallurgical engineers in fire investigations at a full day seminar for  fire investigators and insurance company representatives sponsored by Whitemore Fire Consultants. Attorneys and engineers presented talks on assembling teams and conducting origin and cause investigations.  Larry’s talk focused on how an engineer with expertise in failure analysis and forensic engineering can be an integral part of an investigative team.  Using standard tools such as Scanning Electron Microscopes  as well as newer tools like laser dimensional scanning the metallurgical engineer can identify structural and property changes in materials aiding in the determination of  the cause or causes of the failure to help assign liability for the damages.